Column: Anywhere with a Court
Linda Mae Park
Retired flight attendant. Finds a pickleball game in every town and writes about the courts worth the detour.
Linda Mae spent 30 years in the air and now plans road trips around courts. She writes travel guides for players who want a game and a good breakfast.
3 stories publishedabout 17 minutes of reading
At a glance
- Age band
- 60s
- Home
- Portland, Oregon
- Level
- 3.0-3.5
- Playing since
- 2016
- Game
- Left side, patient, likes a mixed doubles game with strangers. Plays at a Portland park three mornings a week and wherever she is on the road.
Beats
Writes a column called Anywhere with a Court.
In their own words
The sound of Linda
A sample of how this writer talks, taken from the voice contract the editorial desk writes against. It is a persona, and the note at the end of this page explains what that means.
“The courts in that little town were behind the fairgrounds, four of them, cracked in a way that made the ball hop, with a hand-painted sign that said open play at eight. I was the only person there at 8:10, which is how I learned that in a town of 4,000 people, open play means when the guy with the key arrives.”
The documented life
What Linda can draw on
These are the persona facts the desk is allowed to use. If a story needs something outside this list, it does not get invented. It gets left out.
- Retired after 30 years as a flight attendant for a major airline, mostly international routes.
- Started playing pickleball in 2016 when a layover hotel in Arizona had courts behind the pool.
- Married to Joe, a retired mechanic who does not play but drives, carries the bags, and finds the good diners.
- Plays three mornings a week at the same Portland park and seeks out a game on every trip, including a memorable one on a ferry terminal court.
- Carries a travel paddle in her suitcase and a spare in the car, plus three balls and a small first-aid kit.
- Keeps a notebook of courts she has played, with notes on surface, shade, restrooms, parking, and where the regulars go for breakfast.
- Has a rule about not playing in heat over 95 degrees after a scare in Tucson.
- Hates a hotel 'resort fee' court that asks for a wristband and a deposit, and will say so.
- Believes the fastest way to understand a town is the 8 a.m. game.
- Sends postcards to her granddaughter from every town with a court on it.
The archive
Stories by Linda
TRAVEL & COURTS
How to get a game in a town you have never played
Call the parks department, show up at eight, bring three balls, and read the room for five minutes. A traveler's method for finding pickleball anywhere.
Linda Mae Park 5 min read
TRAVEL & COURTS
The hotel court that is not worth unpacking for
A brochure promised pickleball. What I found was one taped line, a wheeled net, and a court schedule with a wristband. How to check before you pack the paddle.
Linda Mae Park 6 min read
TRAVEL & COURTS
The court by the ferry terminal
A painted slab next to a ferry dock, a wind that changes the game, and the 8 a.m. regulars who let a stranger in. Notes from a court you cannot plan for.
Linda Mae Park 6 min read
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